Tuesday, December 29, 2015

A program that has played a pivotal role in bringing $220 million in investments to the region - helping to make possible $1.5 billion of Cleveland’s
construction renaissance downtown and elsewhere - was reauthorized by
Congress as part of the Omnibus spending bill.

“This reauthorization from Congress will allow us to continue to help facilitate Cleveland’s
ongoing, multi-billion dollar resurgence, as well as play a similar role in an expanded service
area that includes Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron, Youngstown and Pittsburgh, PA.” said Stephen
Strnisha, Chief Executive Officer of CiF. “Our program has pumped more than $220 million of foreign capital into numerous Cleveland projects that have created jobs and reinvigorated large
sections of the city. These projects would not have gone forward or been as financially viable
without EB-5 financing.”

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

As the holiday season approaches, Congress is running up against its December 11th deadline to reauthorize the EB-5 Immigrant Investor program.

The EB-5 program has allowed CiF and hundreds of other Regional Centers across the country to use foreign direct investment from overseas investors to finance new development projects and create / retain jobs for US workers. However the EB-5 program is slated to expire on December 11th and if Congress does not act to reauthorize, this powerful tool for economic development will not be available to drive job creation in 2016.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The
EB-5 immigrant investor program administered by the USCIS is – for the second
time this year – in need of congressional reauthorization in order to continue
to operate. Over the past 5 years, CiF has used the EB-5 program to raise $220
million for job creating, catalytic investment projects in the Greater
Cleveland area. However, if Congress does not renew the program on or before
December 11, 2015, the EB-5 program will lapse and CiF will no longer be able
to attract foreign investment capital to the area using EB-5.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

The Uptown Expansion Project is CiF’s
fourth EB-5 project and the second development in Cleveland’s University Circle
neighborhood to receive EB-5 funding (CiF also issued an EB-5 loan to
University Hospitals that partially financed construction of the Seidman Cancer Center in University Circle.) Developed by local real estate company MRN Ltd.,
the Uptown Expansion is a mixed-use project located on corner of Euclid Avenue
and Ford Drive and builds off of the initial Uptown development.

The first Uptown development saw the
construction of two three-story buildings, each divided into market-rate
apartments on the top floors and retail space on the ground floor. The Uptown expansion
mimics this layout, placing living space on the upper floors and retail space
on the ground floor of a single, six-story building. The expansion is located just
south of the original Uptown project site, situated across Euclid Avenue from
Cleveland’s new Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) and a block southeast of the
Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) main campus.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

The newly opened Westin Downtown Cleveland was built via a collaboration between private developers and CiF using capital from EB-5 investors. CiF was pleased to have been a lender to the project since, without EB-5 financing, the project would not have moved forward.

In its previous life, the building on the northeast corner of East 6th Street and St. Clair Avenue operated as a Crowne Plaza hotel. But years of neglect and mismanagement left the building in dire need of rehabilitation; windows and plumbing leaked, air conditioning was not reliable, and some guest rooms were simply locked shut and forgotten about as the cost of repair was deemed too high. Ultimately, the Crowne Plaza closed and it seemed the most likely future for the building was to become another empty tower in Cleveland. To make matters worse, the dilapidated former hotel was in a very visible section of downtown, only a block away from the construction site of the new Cleveland Convention Center.

Friday, August 7, 2015

Downtown Cleveland’s economic resurgence has been made possible by entities from different sectors working together to bring new development to neglected corners of the city. CiF is one such organization; working with developers and local government entities to provide low-cost EB-5 financing to job creating projects. The Westin Downtown Cleveland is a great example of one of CiF’s successful collaborations, as the project helped revitalize a very visible section of downtown and has created positive economic impacts that ripple across the local and regional economy.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

CiF’s third EB-5 project was the transformation of the former Crowne Plaza hotel at the corner of East 6th Street and Saint Clair Avenue in downtown Cleveland into a new Westin Hotel. The Crowne Plaza had long been in disrepair and was in desperate need of renovation, reflagging the hotel as a Westin – complete with new amenities and significant upgrades – was an excellent way to prevent the building from sliding into further dilapidation and disuse.

Working with the property’s owner, CiF raised $36 million in EB-5 funds from foreign nationals, for use in converting the Crowne Plaza into a state of the art Westin hotel. Construction of the Westin project tracked the construction of the Convention Center (and attached Global Center) with the Westin opening for business less than a year after the opening of the Convention Center began operations.

The 22-floor Westin has been operating for more than a year and its 484 rooms provide lodging for business travelers, convention-goers, and tourists alike. The hotel offers signature Westin amenities and has ballrooms and meeting space available for private use. The Westin also boasts one of Cleveland’s finest steakhouses, The Urban Farmer, which specializes in locally sourced ingredients drawn from sustainable sources. Further, Cleveland’s own LAND Studio worked with hotel management to fill the lobby, guest rooms, and other hotel spaces with more than 1,500 pieces of artwork, many created by local Cleveland artists.

CiF was glad to have been able to partner with the developers to see the completion of the new Westin Downtown Cleveland. The project has helped revitalize a very visible part of downtown Cleveland and the Westin provides quality lodging options to guests of all kinds, helping to further the mission of the Convention Center.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

University Hospital’s (UH) ‘Vision 2010’ expansion campaign saw the construction of several new hospital facilities and upgrades to existing facilities, that significantly increased UH’s ability to serve patients. Thanks to imaginative leadership the community and UH, the expansion plan committed to hiring an unprecedented number of local union contractors and vendors for the construction and procurement operations of these new and upgraded facilities. All of which greatly expanded the already significant positive economic impact of Vision 2010’s new investment.

Monday, July 27, 2015

The story of Cleveland's economic rebound has been made possible by a myriad of different entities, all working together toward the common goal of increasing growth in the city. Some of the key players that have made this ongoing economic development possible are the city's anchor institutions.

In Cleveland, large hospital systems and universities are among the most visible entities to be considered anchor institutions since they employ thousands of people, require considerable support services from vendors, have large annual budget expenditures, and have deep roots within the region.

Friday, July 10, 2015

After the success of the Flats East Bank EB-5 Project, CiF
was eager to find another catalytic development project in Cleveland. As the
city has developed into a hub for advanced healthcare research and technology
(two of the world’s leading healthcare systems – the Cleveland Clinic and the
University Hospitals Health System (UH) – are based in the city), we at CiF
were interested in finding a way to use EB-5 to support Cleveland’s growing
healthcare industry.

It quickly became apparent that University Hospitals’ “Vision
2010” system-wide expansion plan would be an excellent fit for EB-5. UH’s multi-year
plan to update existing and construct new healthcare facilities not only
satisfied government standards for the EB-5 program in terms of job creation
and supporting economic development but also appealed to the interests of EB-5
Investors.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Where previous posts outlined the components of Flats East Bank Project and its economic benefits, this post looks at the critical question of “Why use EB-5 investment capital?”

The idea of the Flats East Bank was conceived as a true catalyst for change in the struggling city of Cleveland, and the developer and other leaders had been trying to get the Project started for years, but to no avail. Once the credit crisis hit and the economy worsened, access to critical capital to move the Project forward became even more difficult. Yet even in the face of frozen credit markets, the development team was determined to get this important Project started.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

CiF is pleased to announce that we have received new
approvals from the USCIS for two of our EB-5 projects!

EB-5 Investors who helped finance Phase II of the Uptown project in University Circle are now receiving I-526 approvals! The Uptown
expansion consisted of the construction of a new mixed-use retail and
residential building, which houses The Corner Alley and student apartments for
the Cleveland Institute of Art. A group
of foreign investors, working through CiF, is placing $5 million USD into the
project, helping to complete the overall project financing.

Further, the Flats East Bank Phase II EB-5 project has
received I-924 approval from the USCIS, meaning that the agency has accepted
the project’s business plan as well as the economic methodology that will later
determine the project’s total job creation.

This is an important milestone for any EB-5 project, since creating
new jobs is one of the key criteria an EB-5 investor must meet in order for the
investment to result in permanent US residency.

Monday, June 15, 2015

The
past 10 years has seen a remarkable turn around for downtown Cleveland. The
city’s downtown core and inner ring suburbs have been home to an impressive
alliance of public and private entities that has successfully encouraged new
development in locations that were previously overlooked as viable investment
options.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

The Flats East Bank project began with
the idea to rebuild and revitalize a largely empty section of downtown Cleveland, located along the east bank of the Cuyahoga River. New development
was devised and a plan to build a vibrant and livable urban district complete
with housing, entertainment & retail destinations, and office space emerged.
The combined effect of these new elements near the downtown core that would not
only draw tenants to new buildings but help reinvigorate a part of Cleveland
suffering from economic stagnation.

The idea to capitalize on Cleveland’s
underdeveloped waterfront is not new per se and the initial plans for the Flats East Bank appeared more than a decade ago. However because of various limiting factors
(most notably the 2008 Financial Crisis that destroyed many developers’ access
to traditional credit sources) the Flats East Bank seemed destined to remain an
intriguing concept of new downtown Cleveland development.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Welcome to Cleveland International Fund’s first in a series of blog posts that provide an insider’s view of how the USCIS’ EB-5 Program is helping finance economic development across Greater Cleveland.

For those new to our blog EB-5 is the US Government’s Immigrant Investor program that allows foreign nationals who invest a significant amount of vetted capital into a job-creating US project or business to then be eligible for US residency. CiF is a USCIS Regional Center, which is a private company authorized by the USCIS to create and market these kinds of investments.

About CiF

Cleveland International Fund (CiF) is a private equity fund that finances local, job-creating projects by raising investment funds from around the globe. Operating under a US government program known as EB-5, we offer our foreign investors and their families an expedited path to permanent US Residency. We also fulfill a mission of financing job-creating projects that spur economic development in our community.

Disclaimer

This material is not an offer or solicitation to invest in any security, does not form part of any existing or future solicitation or offering, and is provided for general information purposes only and not as immigration, investment or tax advice. Security offerings, if any, will only be made pursuant to exemptions from registration requirements set out in applicable securities laws. The content hereof is qualified in its entirety by any offering memorandum and related operating agreement that may exist now or in the future.